The Mondial in Dubai saw the largest participation ever in a Canopy Formations World Championships, with new players entering the competition, particularly in the 2-Way Sequential event. However the rankings are dominated by the three “big” players, USA (1st) France (2nd) and Russia (3rd) with Austrialia close behind.

With a First Category Event only being held every other year, persistence pays and there is no change in the top 3 places, even though France swept the board with gold medals in Dubai.

Ukraine, Italy, the Czech Republic and Argentina entered the competition for the first time.

In 4-Way Rotations Russia retains 1st place, with France 2nd and Belarus 3rd, so no change; but both China and Argentina enter for the first time.

4-Way Sequential had low participation in Dubai, unlike all the other disciplines – again dominated by the “big” players with USA retaining their 1st position, and France overtaking Russia to 2nd place, leaving Russia in 3rd.

The latest ranking lists can be found under "Documents"- "Rankings" - "2013".

The list of the competitors selected for the Paragliding Accuracy and Parachuting Canopy Piloting events of The World Games 2013 has been released. In total, 36 athletes for each air sport gained entry to The World Games 2013 in Cali, Colombia.

USA tops the ranking in 4-way Female with Norway coming second. Despite their success in Dubai, France stayed as number 3 - proving that it is costly not to enter all FCE’s!

In 4-way open the consistency of the Belgium team elevated them to 1st place with France slipping into 2nd and Russia retaining their 3rd position. The USA paid the price of not entering all FCE’s. This year, the success of the Mondial in Dubai propels 11 new countries into the ranking lists: Qatar, UAE, Spain, Morocco, Singapore, Ireland, Argentina, Columbia, Oman, Thailand and Equador.

Both 8-way and VFS saw no change in the status quo with France, Russia and USA retaining their 1,2,3 rankingin 8-way and France, Great Britain and Belgium 1,2,3 in VFS. However with 19 countries entering the 8-way competition for the first time Singapore, Canada, Austria, Brazil, UAE, and Quatar appear in the ranking lists for the first time, as do Australia and Sweden in the VFS listing.

The FAI has today ratified the 3 world records claimed by Austrian parachutist Felix Baumgartner for Maximum Vertical Speed, Exit Altitude and Vertical Distance of Freefall.

On 14 October 2012 and supported by a team of experts from the Red Bull Stratos Mission, Felix took off from Roswell, USA, aboard a pressurised capsule attached to a helium balloon. Wearing a specially designed suit, Felix was carried high into the sky up to an altitude of 38969.4m, where he exited the capsule and launched himself down towards Earth. Felix achieved a freefall distance of 36402.6 m and reached the speed of 1357.6 km/h before opening his parachute and landing safely on the ground.

France and Russia top Parachuting Ranking Lists for Freefall Style and Accuracy Landings

The INTERNATIONAL WORLD PARACHUTING RANKING LIST for Freefall Style and Accuracy Landings are updated. The high level of participation in Dubai increased the number of NACs placed in the ranking lists, which is positive.

The Safety Database is back on line. Please please use it and upload all the information you can for 2012 as well as during this coming year. If you need help or more information or have misplaced your user name or password please arrange for your IPC delegate to e-mail Elisabet Mikaelsson who has done all the work, not only to put it together in the first place, but after the crash to recreate it, and thanks to the support of the IT manager in FAI it is back and working.

Another 9.00 am start for the plenary, having enjoyed a very pleasant farewell banquet last night. Our hosts had made us very welcome and a huge thank you goes to the NAC of Bosnia & Herzegovina and the parachute club of Banja Luka.

We are happy to announce the re-launch of the Judges On-Line Training and Re-Evaluation Course. This has been given a complete makover, updated and is available to judges wishing to learn about Artistic Events, Formation Skydiving and Canopy Piloting,